Evans v. Commissioner of Police

[2008] QDC 118

[2008] QDC 118

DISTRICT COURT

APPELLATE JURISDICTION

JUDGE ROBIN QC

No BD2743 of 2007

GREGROY JOHN EVANS	Appellant
and
COMMISSIONER OF POLICE	Respondent

BRISBANE

..DATE 19/05/2008

JUDGMENT

Catchwords
Justices Act 1886, s 222, s 229 - Appeal against wholly suspended sentence in which a District Court Judge had dispensed with the appellant's outline of argument and certificate of readiness being filed and fixed a hearing date (not availed of) - registrar fixed new hearing date, notifying appellant at his address given in his notice of appeal of a new hearing date - appeal dismissed under s 229.

HIS HONOUR: This appeal is dismissed under section 229(3) of

the Justices Act 1886, the appellant having failed to appear.

It's the second occasion when that's been the situation.  He

failed to appear before Judge McGill on the 30th of April last

year when an order was made dispensing with the appellant's

outline of argument, in circumstances, I might note, where his

appeal documents stated grounds very fully.  The Certificate

of Readiness was also dispensed with and the appeal was listed

for hearing on the 28th of May last year.  For some reason it

hasn't come on.  Helpfully, it's been suggested by Mr Burrow

for the respondent, that the difficulty was in finding a

useful address for Mr Evans.

In respect of today's hearing, the instigation for which is

the Court's desire to get its list in order, the Court has

sent the requisite notice that the appeal will be heard today

to Mr Evans by posting it on the 22nd of April of this year to

his address as notified in the Notice of Appeal.  It's an

appellant's obligation to provide the Court with a usable

address.  He can hardly complain if the address which he

chooses to leave on the record unchanged becomes

inappropriate.

The appeal is in respect of a Magistrate's sentence of one

months' imprisonment wholly suspended for an operational

period of 18 months imposed on the 15th of December 2006 for a

single count of failing to comply with a reporting obligation

under the Child Protection (Offender Reporting) Act 2004.

There are extenuating circumstances, perhaps, relating to a

change in Mr Evans' residential arrangements and some

resulting confusion, which if they had been placed before the

Court in the proper way as evidence might have led to the view

being taken that the punishment was excessive.  It had crossed

my mind to temporise in the circumstances and go some distance

towards providing Mr Evans with a limited degree of success by

reducing the operational period so that it would expire today.

There's no particular reason to think he would let himself or

the community down by offending in the next few weeks.

In the circumstances, I won't make that order but will

peremptorily dismiss the appeal under the section mentioned.

-----